US troops cut in Afghanistan to be detrimental: Gen Campbell

WASHINGTON: The planned withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan will hurt efforts to train the Afghan forces, the top Nato military commander in the war-torn country said.

US Army General John Campbell, who is near the end of his tour in Afghanistan and is expected to retire, said that plans to draw the US presence of 9,800 troops down to 5,500 would leave very limited capacity to support the local forces.

“To continue to build on the Afghan security forces, we would have to make some adjustments to that number,” Campbell told the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington. Campbell said much would depend on how quickly the Afghan forces improved. “If they don’t, the number of American troops will most likely need to increase.”

Campbell acknowledged that publicly revealing the troop cuts could allow the enemy to wait the US troops out.Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama’s pick to lead the US Forces in Afghanistan Lieutenant General John Nicholson was approved by a US Senate Committee.

In his testimony to the committee last week, Gen Nicholson said he aimed to review the current troops’ withdrawal plan from Afghanistan.The number of US troops in Afghanistan are expected to be reduced nearly by half as per the current plan. However, Gen Nicholson said the review would be made taking into consideration the deteriorating security situation of the country.

Pentagon’s Press Secretary Peter Cook, during the press briefing last week, said that Gen Nicholson understood the importance and complexity of the US mission in Afghanistan. Gen Nicholson had previously served as the chief of staff of operations for the International Security Assistance Force, ISAF, and US Forces Afghanistan. The outgoing commander of the US forces in Afghanistan has commanded the US and international forces for almost 18 months.